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Temper justice with mercy …European Town squatters appeal to STMA
● Inset: Mr Ansah in an interview with journalist
The occupants of illegal structures along the rail line at European Town, Sekondi, in the Western Region, have pleaded with city authorities to “temper justice with mercy” and give them time to prepare and leave the pleace.
Last week, Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA), in media notice announced it would demolish the illegal structures dotted along the rail line, near the train station, but, there was ‘no show.’
A source explained to The Spectator that, in accordance with the Assembly’s Bye laws, they should have given the occupants two weeks before commencing the exercise, adding” we’ll be back next week.”
The worried occupants, however, complained about the timing and appealed to the authorities to sympathise with them and extend the period for the exercise.
“We are ready to leave but the timing is too short, we know we need development, however, they should give us up to Christmas or January, by which time we would have got a place to relocate. That’s our plea,” Johannes Ansah, an opinion leader told The Spectator.
He said, a chief at the Sekondi Palace was trying to help them find a place to relocate and so needed more time to put their belongings in order before leaving the area.
STMA, Mr Ansah said, should bear with the occupants who, he noted, were ‘going through hell especially in this economic recession.”
“It’s not easy at all to cope with this unfortunate situation we find ourselves. People are trying to make ends meet and then you come and say clear-off like that, we are self-employed and decent people and it’s not easy to rent a house,” he added.
Mr Ansah claimed that STMA collected temporary business operating permit from businesses in the area and also they paid bills to utility companies.
The opinion leader said that prior to the notice for demolition, ECG had removed about 500 meters from the area thereby grounding the fridges used by fishermen and fishmongers to store fish for sale.
European Town, he argued, hosted Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), home of Paa Grant, Western Naval Command, and attracted fishermen from Kpone, Accra and Winneba areas including barbers, hair dressers, and, therefore, “was a huge commercial hub of Sekondi.”
The fishermen, for example, he complained, had no money to rent rooms in Sekondi for their work, so they needed the temporary structures to lay their heads.
He spoke about the smoking of Indian hemp and other criminal activities such as prostitution, and said the security agencies should deal with such matters.
One woman also accused the indigenes of encouraging the illicit trade in the area.
“The Ashawoo is done by Ghanaians: the foreigners couldn’t have been here without involvement of Ghanaians. We have lived here for almost 30 years and some of us have contracted loans for fishing business, how do we pay the monies back?” distraught woman, Essaba complained.
She told The Spectator she paid GHc600 a year to rent a structure.
FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, SEKONDI
President John Dramani Mahama has commissioned four career diplomats as ambassador-designates to represent Ghana in four countries.
The commissioning ceremony took place on Friday, October 16, 2026.
The new envoys are Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo, Ambassador-Designate to Angola; His Excellency Louis Kwame Obeng, Ambassador-Designate to Qatar; Her Excellency Evelyn Korantemaa Ofosu-Amable, Ambassador-Designate to Israel; and His Excellency Jedidiah Reuben Adogla, Permanent Representative-Designate to Switzerland.
President Mahama charged them to advance Ghana’s national interests through strategic partnerships, economic diplomacy, investment mobilization, and expanded access to international markets.
He said Ghana’s diplomatic engagements must deliver tangible economic benefits, create jobs, and strengthen the country’s standing on the international stage.
The four envoys are career diplomats with over 27 years of experience.
On behalf of her colleagues, Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo thanked the President for the confidence reposed in them and pledged their commitment to emulate his leadership and deliver on the mandate given to them.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
The professor who spends his days exploring the intricacies of African languages found himself at the centre of a different kind of lesson on Friday, October 2, 2026. 
This time, there were no lecture notes, academic arguments or university classrooms. Instead, there was the weight of tradition, the rhythm of a community celebration and the solemnity of an oath at a royal palace.
Professor Ọbádélé Kambon, a full Professor of African Linguistics at the University of Ghana, was enstooled as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene of Akuapem Mampong in the Eastern Region in a ceremony that brought academia and traditional authority together.
For the professor, the occasion was more than a new title. It was a moment that connected his academic interests in African languages and indigenous knowledge with the living traditions of an Akan community.
The day’s events unfolded through a series of customary observances. Kambon was first taken to the compounds of the Ɔkyeamehene and Gyasehene, where the preparations for his installation continued.
Then came the application of hyire, the white kaolin powder associated with traditional rites.
With the customary proceedings underway, the new chief was lifted onto the shoulders of celebrants and carried along the main thoroughfare of Akuapem Mampong.
The procession transformed the streets into a public stage for a ceremony rooted in the community’s traditional institutions.
There was something striking about the image, a university professor, accustomed to the measured language of academic discourse, being carried through the town in a display of traditional recognition.
Yet the celebration was not complete with the procession.
A ram was sacrificed at the Mamponghene’s compound before Kambon was taken to the palace, to swear the oath associated with his new offices.
The ceremony brought him formally into his roles as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene.
Beyond the colourful proceedings, the titles themselves carry layers of historical meaning.
Kambon in his research explores the historical connections between Apagya and Akan political and military organisation.
Accounts cited in his work linked Apagya to an asafo, or military company, while historical writing traces an Apagya stool in Asante to the reign of Opoku Ware I in the eighteenth century.
These historical associations offer a glimpse into the institutions that have shaped Akan society over generations, although they do not automatically define the precise responsibilities of the office in Akuapem Mampong.
Kambon’s own professional life reflects a similar interest in preserving and examining African knowledge.
His work encompasses Akan language structure, naming practices across the Black world, proverbs and indigenous intellectual traditions.
Through Abibitumi, the platform he founded, he also promotes language learning, scholarship and cultural engagement.
But tradition was only one part of the story that day.
When the formal ceremony gave way to a reception, the occasion expanded into a celebration of three milestones: Kambon’s enstoolment, his promotion to full professor and his daughter Ama’s admission to the University of Ghana.
The gathering therefore carried a personal significance that went beyond the honours bestowed on one man. 
It celebrated professional advancement, the continuation of family aspirations and a connection to cultural heritage.
For a father, seeing a daughter gain admission to the same university where he holds a distinguished academic position offered another reason to celebrate.
For the professor, the moment placed family achievement alongside his own professional and traditional milestones.
Kambon had already established a place in the traditional life of Akuapem Mampɔn through an earlier installation as Banmuhene Kyidɔmhene, recorded in 2017.
His latest enstoolment adds another chapter to that relationship.
In Akuapem Mampɔn, the day brought together the university, the palace and the family table in one celebration. And for Kambon, the journey from the lecture room to the traditional procession showed how scholarship, cultural responsibility and family achievement could converge in a single memorable occasion.
By Enoch Ntiamoah Siaw
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